The other side

Sat 15 May 2004



Arafat at heart of rights abuse report

GETHIN CHAMBERLAIN DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENT


ARAB prisoners beaten and tortured, innocent bystanders killed by gunfire - another damning human rights report.

But the difference this time is that the violence is being perpetrated not by coalition forces in Iraq, but by the Palestinian Authority, and the victims are its own people.

The report, partly funded by the Finnish government,

claims Palestinian cities are in a state of near anarchy, with people on the payroll of Yasser Arafat’s Palestinian Authority (PA) blamed for 90 per cent of gangland violence.

It highlights numerous incidents of torture of prisoners and refers to the killing of civilians in gunbattles between Palestinian factions.

EDITED BY ADMIN: COPYRIGHT

"human rights" story that is usually told about palestinian suffering.

So the Palestinian civilians are abused by both the PA
and the IDF and that means what?

are hardly the poor victims of Israeli oppression they are portrayed as here and elsewhere. There is another side to the story that is rarely told. Just as this report will get almost no publicity. Their leaders are a bunch of gangsters and hoodlums and the Europeans who support them financially try to cover it up.

Arafat/PA bashing is a popular sport here.
Not that he doesn't deserve it.
But since Arafat is an Israeli tool, it means nothing about the
reprehensible treatment of Palestinian citizens at the hands
of the Israeli government.

here enough. I rarely see it. I usually see nothing but Israel bashing, and strident defenses of Arafat. I get attatcked for claiming that he is responsible for terrorism. And my point is also that this report will not see much light in the general media which reports every time there is an Israeli abuse.

I only wish Arafat was the Israeli tool you think he is. What a fantasy.

I have seen one or two glowing accolades, not many though.
I posted one by Uri Avnery once.

He certainly is a "terrorist", but so are most of the political
leadership on both sides of the I/P issue.

The medias job is to lie and feed us bullshit. So what?

With regard to the "tool" allegation, why do you think he is
still alive in his little cubby in Ramallah when so many
Palestinian leaders are dead?

due respect, there is no way I can see to equate the two sides the way you do. But I appreciate the discussion. Thanks.

then there's NO problem with the IDF and Israeli politicians doing it.

what stupid logic is that? Americans are mistreated by their government too - doesn't mean that Castro has the right to fire missiles at their protests

This is a copyright violation of this article:

http://news.scotsman.com/international.cfm?id=554042004

DU guidelines allow for fair use up to 4 paragraphs in citation. Please remember this in future posting.

Also moving to the I/P forum proper because this is I/P material.

Lithos
FA/NS Moderator
Democratic Underground